@TiffHobbsOnHere | Deeper Dives- 6 Months After the Fires. L.A. has never experienced loss on this scale.

all the shows, but definitely this show. We just had a wonderful interview with our friend Ac Christiansen, Aaron Ac Christiansen of Animal Advocacy Network, and he's out there. He left southern California to go out to Texas. Let me just be clear, because he traveled by caravan to Texas to help with the animal recovery and rescue efforts, and he painted a really grim but hopeful picture of what's going on out there in Texas. Make sure you listen

to that. It was something, it was impactful. We're also keeping tabs on some really big stories that maybe should be bigger, and I know we're covering it right here on KFI. You heard it right there from our KFI twenty four hour newsroom. There was a body of a toddler found early this morning in Panorama City in a parking lot, apparently in a trash bin. They're saying it's a residence, but that the toddler, approximately three to four years old, was found in this trash bin. Authorities are,

of course investigating, but we don't have many details. We don't have a why, a suspect, any causation, anything. And this story absolutely needs to unfold so we can find out what the heck happened. President Trump announced the thirty percent tariff on Mexico and the European Union. It's going to take effect August first. Prices will shoot up if this tariff situation goes through. I know we're the tariffs are kind of threatened and then they pull back, but

this one could very well happen on August first. And of course Vice President jd Vance is in the Southland. He's at Disneyland today enjoying himself, and we'll see what else he has in store. On his docket as he's in southern California. Will he meet with Mayor Bess? Will he meet with the supervisor and leadership out there in Orange County?

Saturday because I have a great team around me. Raoul's in there, Nikki's in there, Brigitta's in there, and Richie of course, and Kayla, we love you, we miss you. We know she's listening and make sure you get those talkbacks in because she's listening as well. Now it's the

sixth month, six month anniversary. I think anniversary might be an inappropriate name, but we know we're commemorating the six months that have passed since the Palisades and Eaten fires, and it doesn't feel like six months at all for me. It feels like this is something These fires are something

that occurred maybe a couple of months ago. Six months is quite a long time for positive things, and even longer when it comes to a situation like this where survivors are saying they are still struggling because La has never experienced this kind of loss on this kind of scale. Measuring progress six months after the fires has been hard and painful, but it's being done, and whether it's considering

the feelings of loss. Thirty people died, thousands of homes gone, countless, animal life, long term plans derailed, battles with insurance companies, financial duress, mental anguish, all of that after six months is still too raw for the people who were directly impacted, and progress does in fact still seem fleeting for many, especially those again who were the victims, are continuing in their healing from this situation. A an audio clip from KTLA that lays it out very well.

them back on track. And then there's the mental anguish, the mental capacity that's being pushed for people who have experienced these two fires, which all contributes to the fact that modern Los Angeles, what we know LA to be, has never experienced this type of loss. So because we've never experienced this type of loss, there are no easy road maps to navigate how to best respond to these situations in the time since it has passed these fires

have passed. There are individual challenges, there are collective challenges, and on the other side. We're going to go through what those challenges include. They cover cleanup, they cover assessing financial loss, they cover questions about neighborhood rebuilding, they cover city and county response. Because we're right here, it's fire season all year round, but especially in the warmer months

of the year as we are in now. And if you're that fire app that we all download it during the fires, I can't think of the name of it right now, but that fire app that we all became very accustomed to. If you have that app, then you've seen it go off a lot over the last couple of weeks. What does that mean for the future should something like this happen again. So there are quite a few things that are being discussed in the six months since the Palisades and Eaten fires, and we will get

into reviewing where we are as a region. On the other side of the break, It's Saturdays with Tiffany right here on KFI AM six forty Live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.

It just ballooned back in January as we all were watching what was happening with the Eaten fire, the Palisades fire, and the other fires that were popping up around that time, and my best friend Michelle messaged me and said, watch Duty, Watch Duty. And I'm sure a lot of you were screaming at your radio or at your phone as well. That watch Duty app definitely became a source I think

of anxiety and trauma. And since the six months have passed, we've kind of been quiet when it comes to fires, except for i'd say this last week to two weeks where my watch Duty app, which I still have, which was more or less dormant for a period of time, has now been again lighting up like crazy.

And I think it's still burning out there. But when it comes to Palisades and Eaten, LA's just never experienced loss on this scale. So that's what we're talking about. The progress, if any, in the six months since the fires, and you can measure it in two ways. You can measure it individually speaking about the victim of the fire, people struggling with the deaths of loved ones. Thirty people

again died. This was a deadly fire, determining whether to rebuild and what that entails, and also assessing the losses financially, can you rebuild, what does that look like? Do you know what then has to be navigated so that financially you can get back on track with your life. Those are individual concerns and then there are the collective concerns, and I would say even the vicarious concerns that many

of us are watching as well. Will the neighborhoods that people lived in or that maybe you enjoyed visiting, will they ever feel and look like what they did? And many people six months out are saying no, they're saying they can't look like what they used to look like because of the way in which private investors, private companies, developers are coming into both the Palisades and the Altadena and Pasadena areas and buying up land.

a burned zone, is an active recovery zone. There are lots of questions, and for all of the uncertainty, there have been measurable changes since January. For instance, thousands of lots have been cleared, numerous lawsuits have been filed, there have been multiple investigations, many of which are still underway, and dozens of new building permits have been issued. But many people say that's simply not enough. When it comes

to cleanup. Federal, state, and local officials continue to tout and kind of brag about the massive cleanup of the Eton and Palisades fired debris. They often say, and you'll hear them in press conferences, whether mayor Bess or governor Newsom or anyone else.

and still remains the most destructive wildfire. Well, the Army Corps Engineers are saying, we've cleaned up the Palisades and Eaten areas twice as fast as that two thousand properties per month, and they're more or less boasting about the speed.

But as workers continue to gather up the debris, clear the wreckage, there's the issue of toxic ash, contaminated soil, and other sort of debris that has been moved to these four local landfills, resulting in a lot of protests, a lot of animosity, and a lot of question about how people are going to be impacted by this toxicity and if you choose to live back in these burn areas, are you still living amongst toxicity. There's so much at play and it's going to take a long time to

really parse through. Then you have the city and county response. Most people are still navigating the process to rebuild. You have county leaders like Mayor Bess who said that they were pledging the ability for property owners to get permits to rebuild. But many property owners are criticizing that pledge, that streamlined promise, a promise of streamlining the process of all of this as being too slow. They're saying that

not nearly enough people are being granted the permits. More than six hundred and fifty applications have been submitted to LA's Department of Building in Safety, two hundred and twenty of them about have been approved, but one hundred and sixty five permits have been issued. That is a far cry from the number of people who have applied. When it comes to FEMA and federal funding. What does that

look like. Well, as of this week, more than three billion dollars in federal funds has been approved for individuals, families, and businesses impacted by the that's according to FEMA. But you have a lot of victims who are saying, we haven't gotten that money, How do we get that money, where does it come from, where does it funnel down from. And if they have gotten money, they're saying it's not enough or it's heavily limited or minimized compared to what they were expecting.

the area special is gone. Nearly eighty percent of the destroyed homes in Pacific Palisades are now completely cleared lots, and the same can be said for the Altadena area. So when communities are trying to rebuild themselves and they're looking at six months out since the initial situation, since the initial fire, they're really wondering will they be able to come back, And when they do come back, will they have again that strong and tight knit community that

they once enjoyed. Many are saying no, but six months out certainly doesn't feel like a long time, and there's a yet a long time to go. When we come back, We're going to get into scammers. Gonna Scam one of our newest segments, one of my favorite segments. I'm gonna tell you about two stories about people scammers who want you to separate from your money, and unfortunately there are victims in this case, people who have gotten gut as

you might say. I'll tell you about the stories and hopefully you won't fall victim to these newest scams taking hold around the Southland. Right here on Saturdays with Tiffany KFI AM six forty Live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.

And then, of course we have Vice President jd Vance at Disneyland. He's there at Disneyland with a thirty person entourage. Can you imagine being behind him in line. I would be pissed if I had to wait for thirty people in a group to figure out the seating and they get to fast track to the front of the line. But I guess, I guess that's a perk of being vice president if there are no others. And then lastly, right now, there's actually a protest going on in Torrance

across from City Hall on Torrance Boulevard. People are up set that there is a proposal to build housing for homeless people. I think one of these hotels or apartment complexes is being converted into homeless housing, and the residents there are saying, Nope, not in our city. So they are out there in Torrents protesting en mass and we'll keep you up to date on what's going on there. You like your money, I like my money. I don't like scammers. But as we know, scammers gone a scam,

And we have two new scams for you. Unfortunately that you may have already fallen victim two. You might be primed to fall victim two. And I'm hoping to caution you against falling victim two, starting with our very first one,

which involves those PPP loans. Remember those PPP loans and Economic Injury disaster loans that were issued to folks during COVID, Oh yeah, twenty twenty of March right March twenty twenty through April twenty twenty one, one, that year long period in which PPP loans were issued to folks who mated them, some didn't, And we definitely found out that there were certainly people who took advantage, and then there were people who all outscammed the system. And the newest suspects in

this scam are local boys. One is from Burbank and one is from Glendale. We have Noraian Madati, forty years old from Burbank and vaz Rick Madatti, brothers from Glendale.

in the throes of everything unprecedented times. According to the indictment, no Ryer, the younger brother, was a banker at Wells Fargo, and he opened fraudulent accounts with the names of fake companies and stolen or fake identities. Stolen identities that could have been you. If you experience some sort of major

fraud during that time. Then perhaps you are now happy to find out, if you didn't already know, that the suspects in that crime in which your identity was stolen and used to secure PPP loans and disaster loans have been caught. The brothers obtained these two point seven million dollars through the PPP program and the Disaster loan program. According to prosecutors, they're also accused of submitting loan applications with fake and stolen identities. They also had false statements

about revenues, operations, and employees. They were very detailed with their scamming. Two of the stolen ID victims were developmentally disabled and lived in long term care facilities. That's according to court documents, so they were preying on everyone indiscriminately, the developmentally, developmentally able and the developmentally disabled. They were taken into custody. These two brothers, forty years old and forty four. What a life right just this three days

ago July ninth. Both were charged with one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, two counts of wire fraud, and three counts of money laundering. The younger brother additionally was charged with one account of aggravated identity theft and one count of making a false statement to a government agent. They could face up to twenty years in prison for each wire fraud related count and up to ten years

for each money laundering account. They were released on twenty five thousand dollars and fifty thousand dollars bond, respectfully, the younger getting twenty five thousand dollars bond and the older being released on fifty thousand dollars bond. We'll see if they disappear. I don't know if I would have released them. But they were released and their trial date is scheduled for September second, so they have about two months until they have to report and they are out.

time you realize you've been scammed, it's too late. I'm going to tell you a little bit more about this scam on the other side of the break, and before we talk to Michael Monks, we're going to get into why the t DA is now allowing you to take your shoes off in the security line at the airport. But what they want you to know before you just take or keep your shoes on. I said, take your shoes off, keep your shoes on. See I'm still getting

used to the rollback. You can keep your shoes on, but they want you to know some things about what to do with these shoes on in the security line. We'll get into all of that more clearly on the other side of the break. Tiffany Hobbs here with you at Saturdays with Tiffany Kfi AM six forty Live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.

You send your payment through. You're expecting that two hundred dollars you know bike that actually costs fifteen hundred dollars retail, but this site has it for two hundred dollars or fifty nine ninety nine or whatever crazy deal it may be. And we've all gotten tricked by these crazy deals. They prey on us. They know we're vulnerable. And when you send all of your payment through, you'll get a tracking number,

and that tracking number leads to nothing. You go back to the website because you're trying to figure out why is it now a month since I, you know, did this order and the shipment said it was only going to take four to six days. It's been a month, and you go back to the website. The website's gone it's completely gone. You have effectively been duped these criminals. Unfortunately, it's what they are not Unfortunately, we're not going to show them any grace. They're criminals in every sense of

the word. They are often based overseas, most popularly in Asia, usually in China. They take your payment, they ghost you. You don't get the product, you don't get a refund, there's no customer service to complain to.

got get this Christmas present. And in twenty twenty one I think it was, and I said, can you get me this compact treadmill because gyms weren't really opened back up at that time, and we weren't really doing the gym thing during COVID for whatever your beliefs were, just wasn't comfortable.

There's no one to talk to. And luckily for my mom, she was able to dispute the charges through her bank because she used an appropriate measure way of payment, whereas others many others have not been able to recoup their losses.

And the thing about I never got the treadmill, by the way, and just ended up having to go back to the gym, which is fine, but even worse that these scam sites are popping up faster than regulations can shut them down, faster than hosting companies can take them down, and even now as we talk, there are many of

these websites that are still absolutely up. I saw one on Facebook that was mimicking a website for this kind of bohemian clothing brand, and it looked exactly the same word for word, color for color, graphic for graphic, except for the fact that the fake website, unbeknownst to the many customers there in the comments especially, was advertising the

goods at about seventy five percent off. So people were going to the fake website that was advertising a huge summer sale and buying the goods finding out through the legitimate website who had to them post regularly on social media, Hey guys, that's a scam. Don't buy with them. We're trying to get them taken down, but we're having trouble. But don't buy with them. Hundreds of comments of people saying they sent any amount of money to the fake website and that they were unable to get any sort

of refund. So if you suspect that you might be looking at something that is too good to be true, it probably is. Here are some other tips to make sure you don't fall for these scams. Slow down and read. If there are misspelled words, weird domain names, something that has an S that shouldn't have an S, probably not real.

Use virtual cards or a credit card, not a debit card when you're shopping, especially back to schools coming up, holidays are coming up, try and use a virtual card or a credit card so that you can have some sort of fraud protection.

tsa screening, laying no sort of weaponry. All this is common sense, but they're saying it because people are going to do it.

great show. Make sure you listen. Thank you for listening here. You can still send your talkbacks, just address them to me, or make sure you address them to Michael Monks. We get that confused sometimes. And I'll see you right here next Saturday. From five to seven on Saturdays with Tiffany. It's been a blast. Have a great weekend. KFI AM six forty Live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app